Think it’s a challenge to weather tough economic times? Try doing it while keeping the business growing fast.

The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal is continuing its tradition of taking five of the fastest-growing private companies in the Twin Cities and following them for a year. It’s our Fast 50 Diary and this year looks to be especially challenging for our companies. There’s lots of talk of economic doom and gloom. But for those firms that not only survive, but succeed, there will be plenty of extra bragging rights.

The companies this year are a diverse mix. They include a fitness club chain, a foodservice firm, a marketing firm, a chemical company and a bank.

The companies in the Fast 50 Diary are:

Anytime Fitness Inc.

The name says it all for this Hastings-based co-ed health club chain. Founders Jeff Klinger and Chuck Runyon came up with the idea that busy people need a gym nearby that’s open 24 hours — but don’t need extra frills like racquetball courts and saunas.

Anytime Fitness Inc. has appeared to hit a chord with this philosophy. Since it started in 2002, it’s grown to 880 clubs, including about 40 clubs in the Minneapolis area. Runyon, the company president, expects to have up to 1,000 by the end of the year. Revenue has more than quadrupled from $2.9 million in 2005 to $13.1 million in 2007.

Runyon believes the company’s relatively low membership fees (below $40 monthly) will help it handle the downturn well. Its small clubs and minimal staff also keep its costs low.

Runyon thinks that aspects of the downturn could even work in the company’s favor if it gives people a reason to go to the gym. “They need to get in there for 30 to 40 minutes to reduce that stress,” he said.

The business, meanwhile, continues to expand. Anytime has sold franchise rights for an additional 1,200 clubs. Runyon expects revenue to surpass $20 million this year.

A’viands Food & Services Management

Roseville-based A’viands Food & Services Management promotes itself as providing above-average food for hospitals, prisons and schools. Its all-natural, made-from-scratch meals have been enough of a hit that the company’s revenue nearly doubled between 2005 and 2007, growing from $34 million to $62.9 million.

Started in 2003, the company now operates in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. It has roughly 170 clients, 30 to 40 of which are in the Twin Cities, including educational institutions such as Augsburg College and Normandale Community College and jails in Anoka and Dakota counties.

CEO Perry Rynders and other top executives worked Oct. 13 and 14 out of a hotel conference room to update A’viands’ strategic plan for the next three to five years. Their plan is to expand out of the Midwest and pick up larger clients along the way.

Bad economic times, Rynders said, could be good for A’viands because it could find institutions looking to save money by outsourcing their foodservices.

“We can buy in bigger volume and buy more efficiently. A professional company like A’viands can bring in expertise,” Rynders said.

The firm expects 2008 revenue of $70 million.

Dyvig, Driver, Devine Inc.

Started in 2000, Dyvig, Driver, Devine Inc. prides itself in its ability to build strong relationships with its clients in the direct-mail and e-mail marketing business. Megan Devine, a partner along with Fred Driver and Maureen Dyvig, thinks that could be why the Minneapolis business is keeping its roughly 30 clients, even though most are in the banking and financial-services industry and right at the epicenter of the present economic crisis.

“That’s a tough arena to be in right now, but they’re sticking with us and we’re working together,” Devine said.

This year, Devine doesn’t expect to continue the sort of dramatic growth the firm enjoyed between 2005 and 2007, when revenue almost doubled from $9.1 million to more than $16.1 million. She said Dyvig, Driver, Devine, which does business as d.trio marketing group, is looking for new clients outside the financial sector at the same time that it’s working on ways to help existing clients save money on marketing.

In the next 30 days, the firm is rolling out a new Web-based system, Brand@Hand, that will allow clients to order small batches of existing print materials as needed. A bank manager, for example, would be able to order batches of brochures when they run out, Devine said.

The firm also is diversifying by creating a new division, called dsign, that will focus more on creative work than direct-mail marketing.

Seacole-CRC

A global credit crisis may have been all the news. But Seacole-CRC CEO Gregg Elliott said the company recently had eight banks competing for a $4.5 million financing deal on a new 85,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing facility the company is buying in Plymouth.

“A company with our kind of finances and growth was what they were looking for,” Elliott said. Wells Fargo & Co. won the deal.

Seacole-CRC, a specialty chemical maker and distributor, saw revenue grow from $11.1 million in 2005 to $17.8 million in 2007. Elliott expects revenue of about $19 million this year.

Revenue, Elliott said, is able to grow because Seacole-CRC provides chemicals for companies making products ranging from finished metals to semiconductors to foods. That diversity gives it some economic cover. Its relatively small size also allows it to pay more attention to the needs of its clients, who need small batches of chemicals at a time to avoid regulatory hassles, Elliott said.

Elliott and business partner Joe Mills started building Seacole in 2002 with the purchase of Circuit Research Corp. The company further expanded in 2007 with its acquisition of St. Paul-based C&H.

Seacole has some ambitious goals. It plans to have its Delano and St. Paul operations consolidated in Plymouth by April. The company also is expanding its distribution network beyond the Twin Cities and Chicago.

Signature Bank

Minnetonka-based Signature Bank’s revenue grew from $4.7 million in 2005 to $11.2 million in 2007. With the banking industry at the center of the present economic crisis, co-founder and Executive Vice President Leif Syverson doesn’t expect much revenue growth in 2008.

Still, Syverson anticipates better economic times in the future. Signature’s business of serving small businesses in the Twin Cities means that it’s avoided the subprime mortgage mess that has caused so much trouble in the industry. Syverson said Signature has even been able to get some home-equity loan business because larger banks are so risk-averse that they’re turning away loan-seekers with solid finances.

“They can’t get a loan because they’ve fallen inside some corporate mandate, so now they’ve fallen into the welcome arms of the Signature Banks of the world,” Syverson said.

The biggest hit on Signature’s revenues involves the large drop in interest rates over the past year. About two-thirds of its loans are variable. The troubled home market also affects the less than 10 percent of Signature loans related to residential real estate development.

“I think it’s going to take us the next 15 months to work through the bottom of the residential real estate market. But I would be hopeful that after that we’ll see things gravitate upward,” Syverson said.

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